Pablo Picasso, circa 1953.
Bettmann/Getty ImagesA never-before-seen Picasso work could belong to you. And 1,009 others.
The prolific abstract artist, who died in 1973, at one point fashioned a ceramic bowl that his family would eventually keep as an heirloom. His granddaughter and great-grandson, Marina and Florian Picasso, are selling just over 1,000 images of the bowl as NFTs, the Associated Press reported.
NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, are unique identifiers tied to digital assets like images, videos or even memes. If you buy an NFT, the token serves as proof that you own the digital asset. As with cryptocurrency, your ownership is recorded in the blockchain.
The Picasso heirs haven’t shown the world the entirety of the roughly pizza-sized bowl, which Marian Picasso dates back to 1958. Rather, in photos for the AP, they tease the yellow, green and gray smudges that coat the piece in signature Picasso fashion.
“It’s a work that represents a face, and it’s very expressive,” Marina Picasso told the AP. “It’s joyful, happy. It represents life. … It’s one of those objects that have been part of our life, our intimate lives — my life with my children.”
NFT services Origin Protocol and Nifty Gateway will host the sale, which begins Friday. Sotheby’s will auction off the physical bowl in March.
